A Blog About Stock Photography. John specializes in shooting stock photos including a mix of funny animal pictures with anthropomorphized pets (including dogs, cats, cows, elephants, monkeys and more), and concept stock photos for business and consumer communications. John's site includes interviews with photographers and leaders in the stock photo community as well as numerous articles on photography, digital imaging, and the stock photo business.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Leveraging Your Photography Business

As a photographer you can leverage yourself in many ways including employees and associates.

Making Money And Leverage

I believe it was Archimedes who purported to have said “Give
me a place to stand and I shall move the world”. He was talking about leverage,
and to make money, a lot of money, it helps to use leverage. In building a
photography career that you want to support yourself with, leverage is a key
ingredient and there are a number of ways to go about that task. The key is to
pick the method of leveraging that is compatible with who you are, and the life
you want to lead, and go for it.

Leveraging Yourself

Leveraging yourself can be as simple as providing yourself
with the right equipment, or establishing a strong brand, or as complex as
hiring a workforce or being a conduit for the work of other photographers. Over
the years I have tried my hand at a number of ways of leveraging myself with
varying degrees of success.

Leveraging Through Equipment

Early on in the world of digital photography I experienced
the benefits of leveraging when I purchased a scanner. It was a Scanmate 5000,
a 5000 dpi desktop drum scanner that cost of $50,000.00. I got a free trip to
Denmark to learn how to use it to boot! The lease payments on that scanner cost
me $1,000.00 a month, but I earned several times that amount every month by
charging clients for scanning, scanning images for other photographers, and
having increased access to scanned files (this was before digital capture) for
my stock photography.

Leveraging Through Building Your Brand

In fact, pulling the trigger on buying that scanner helped
me leverage my photography business in another way as well. In those early days
of digital photography, the early 90’s, I was able to establish myself as a
leader and pioneer in the digital arena, something that resulted in my being
able to get more clients (I was doing assignment work back then), charge higher
prices, and be the recipient of free software and equipment (I was once given a
$45,000.00 digital camera back on the provision that I shared my positive
experiences with it at trade shows).

Leveraging Through Employees

I leveraged my business further when I had employees. At one
point I had five people working for me…which certainly did leverage my
business, but didn’t suit me as a person very well. I hated being the boss and
taking on all of that responsibility. I could never, for example, leverage
myself the way Yuri Arcurs has so successfully done.

Leveraging Through Timeless Stock Photography

I remember when I first began to produce stock photography
it was because I felt I could leverage my business by creating timeless images
that would earn me money even when I was on vacation. That theory is still
working, though as we all know, not quite as well as it once did!

Leveraging Other Photographer’s Work

Eventually that led to becoming a conduit for other
photographers’ work, something that continues to bring me additional income to
this day. The key to making that effort work is in finding the right
contributors. For me, this means talented, independent, self-motivating
photographers who feel they can leverage themselves by taking advantage of what
I have to offer, be it equipment, ideas or distribution channels.

Leveraging That Works For You

Now I am leveraging my business on the Internet through
uploading content and SEO efforts (including this photo blog), seeking new
revenue streams for my imagery with everything from coffee mugs and T-shirts to
greeting cards to stock licensing and even to advertising (Google Adwords)
income. Leveraging your business works, and there are many ways to do it. You
just have to find what works for you.